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I am part of some really grate writing groups on LinkedIn, one of them dose a monthly short story contest, the group is lively with lots of active members. I haven’t joined in on one of these monthly contest yet, (mind you its just for fun, and practice our righting, and righting outside our comfort zones.) but I figured it was worth a shot. All the competitions have a different set of parameters, but all are 600-715 words. This one was suspense, it had to start with someone on their day off, and end with them getting news that will change their life.

I have never written suspense before, and none of my other short stories are under 1,000 words, I thinks that’s why this one interested me. So here it is, my entry I didn’t get to enter.

The Rain Keeps Falling

715 words

She leaned against the island in the middle of the kitchen, a fresh cup of coffee in hand, staring out the big bay window, past the dirty glass and out into the gray damp morning. “Of course, it had to rain today. All I wanted to do was pull the weeds, my poor flowers look like they are lost in a jungle.”

Taking a sip from her cup, she nearly drops it as the freshly brewed coffee sears the tip of her tongue. Setting the cup down she slowly scans her home, the thick dust with little paw prints scattered through it, a sink full of coffee cups and spoons, a dead bouquet in a dry vase. “I really have let this place go haven’t I Storm? What am I to do when it’s just you and me?” She says scratching the little gray tiger striped cat under her uplifted chin.

Her cell phone breaks the silence ringing with Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 9. She let it play on for a moment before answering. “Good morning, Stacy Smitten speaking.”

“Good Morning Miss. Smitten. Mr. Cotter wanted more copies printed up for your presentation. You know the one he reassigned to Mike Garfield. Any way I need your password so I can get to the files. It’s right on your desktop right?” Stacy’s young and anxious intern Mandy asked in a slightly wavering voice, always the kiss up hiding behind a blocky pair of red plastic glasses, but full of potential, and Stacy’s favorite.

“You always sound like you think you’re in trouble Mandy, try calming down now and then would you. Yes on the desk top you cannot miss it, and the password, it’s ‘come home soon’, every other letter in caps starting with the first letter. I feel like I haven’t been home in ages, is there anything else?” She said sounding only a little aggravated, after all she had given the girl this information several times before she left the office for her week off.

“Right Miss. Smitten, sorry, I know I um… sorry. If I can ask ma’am… has there been any word yet?” The girl asked, more timidly than usual.

“No, nothing yet, but I know he is out there, he has to be. Thank you for asking Mandy, good bye.” she hung up her cell phone without waiting for the girl to respond. “She meant well at least.”

She took a long deep swallow of her coffee, taking in the quiet morning again. “Nothing like that first cup of coffee in the morning.”

She looked out the cloudy window once again hoping to see the rain clouds broken and the sun shining bright, but beyond the dust-covered glass all she found was a wall of water. “Now what am I to do? Cleaning really doesn’t interest me, there’s no point when no one will be coming over. I’m talking to myself again. Let’s just say I was talking to you stormy, that sounds better.” She says giving the cat a little scratch between the ears.

“Maybe a little T.V. will help fill the quiet. Some day Max will fill that quiet with the pitter-patter of my grandchildren’s feet. He will make such a wonderful father and husband one day.” She said to the loudly purring bundle of fur as she pet her, flipping through the channels with her free hand. Disappointed she shut the T.V. off, and drank some more of her coffee.

A nock on the door made her jump, “Now who is could that possibly be?” She walked to the door slowly and peered out the tiny window, only the top of a soaked army green hat, and a wet pink cheek visible through the small glass pain.

Her heart jumping she says “Max.”

Taking a deep breath, she wipes a single tear from her cheek, and opens the door slowly.

Standing in the pouring rain she sees three somber faced youths, fully dressed in all there army finery, the one in front holding a folded American flag. Her heart drops like a stone to the bottom of her stomach, slowly she sinks to the floor, as she whispers “No”. Her tears flow and everything fades away, but the rain keeps falling as she sits alone.

My oldest son will be 11 soon, and yes he is changing right before my eyes. This both terrifies me and makes me happy, because he is growing up. I struggle to balance my work and my family like most other parents out there in the world, and there are times we feel as though we are failing. My sons grades have started to slip, they are still good grades but almost all of them down from the beginning of the year. I can see his frustration, but when I try to help he gets angry with me. He used to love reading and doesn’t any more. His teachers tell me how smart he is, and the reasons for his slipping grades are small and fixable, but he wont cooperate with me. I know I don’t spend enough time with my children ether, and he is in a lot of extra activities all year long. I am hoping things will get better this summer when he and I will have time to write the story he wants to do with me, but I don’t know how to help him now.

Any parents out there in my position before or now? I wouldn’t normally post something like this on my blog, but is this not like a community? So I thought I would ask from others who have been there done that. As much as I hate to admit it, I wasn’t exactly given the best child raising skills growing up, I learned a bit what not to do. So I am feeling a little lost, groping my way through the dark. What have you done?

I posted this painting before when I thought it was done, but I looked at it with a friend one day and he made some good points. If you look at the before photo you will see that the petals in the middle of the flower bleed together, you can’t tell where one ends and another begins unless you look closely at the brush stroks. So I mixed up a nice dark reddish purple to fix that problem, and I did feel it was a big problem. Then I sat there staring at it and it told me it was still unfinished. A thought came to me out of the blue, photographs , the subject in focus and behind it out of focus. So I played with this idea, I’m not sure how it turned out but the painting finally feels finished. So take a good look at the before and after and let me know what you think, if you want.

I hate to say this but the new artist of the week may need to wait till next week. I barely even have time to write this post as both my youngest boys have a stomach bug. Have you ever had your foot thrown up on, it is a nasty feeling! I hardly ever post any complaints or trouble I am having, but with the two of them sick all I can do is care for them. All they want is to be held and cry, they can barley keep down a thing, so starting yesterday for a few days all I can be is mommy and care for them. Thank you Nana for bringing home a bug from work, lol. Sorry all, being mommy will always come first in my life.

I have said before that I try to do to much. For the first time I have to do something, make a choice. After talking to my older brother I know what I now have to do, even though I don’t want to. I have to post less on my blog. I spend so much time researching my blog posts I have no time to write, to read, to do things I need to do for my son’s after school activities, and all the little things that go with being a mom of three young boys. I guess that is why most writers either don’t have kids or wait until they get older. So, what do I plan to do? I plan to free up my time by blogging less. I love blogging every day, or almost every day, but kids take up a lot of time and I do still need to work on my novel. So I will go back to doing an artist of the week, and my segments will run for 1-2 months. I apologies to all my readers, I will post again on Friday so I can do a great post for you all. Thank you all for reading and liking my posts.

My artist of the day 1/29/12 My 8 year old son, Clifford. My son loves art just as much as I do. I assume he got his love for Art from me of course. He wants to try it all, but can’t learn it fast enough in school to make him happy. When he asked […]

Enrique Iglesias:
I don’t know what it is but she drives me crazy
I don’t know what she does but she drives me wild
If only she could let me be the man I wanna be
Well she can leave me helpless as a child

Lionel Richie:
I don’t know how it is but she has the power
She can make me laugh when I wanna cry (oh yeah)
She tells me that I’m in control but I know it’s just a lie

Lionel Richie & Enrique Iglesias:
And I don’t mind oh
Will she love you tomorrow like she loves you today
She can keep your heart guessing but she’s yours if she stays
And that’s what it feels like
To love a woman
To love a woman